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Most important channel and speakers in Home Theater

Most important channel and speaker in Home Theater


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stevenswall

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Sure a center channel "anchors dialogue" in a way a phantom center might not, but if you use a signal that needs a center channel, hopefully your best, most massive speaker is your center channel. Since this isn't the case/feasable/reasonable, I think the left and rights are most important, then 2+ subwoofers, then rear surrounds. 4.4 should be more common than 5.1... and I can't believe they have receivers that are 11.1.8 or whatever... As if bass which is an issue in 90%+ of the room over 90% of the time is less important than having a myriad of ceiling speakers.

Just need stuff with Dirac Live Bass Control to come out under $16,000 or so, since maybe those receivers will not get withering reviews here like the $2,000-6,000 ones. :(

Clear dialogue wise, the stereo mix of a movie should provide that. Be sure you aren't sending the R and L signals from a surround sound mix to your speakers, as the dialogue will be very difficult to hear because it will just be the ambience/low level stuff that sounds like it's recorded further away, because it's expecting to put most of it in the center channel.
 

Andysu

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Five screen is thee most important if your really into home theater/cinema then five screen is thee most paramount part of the screen channels ain't nothing like. Panned sounds dialog moves smoothly across the screen some fixed dialog sounds will appear in left-centre or right-centre sound effects as well and music sounds far better.


140642702_10158856122190149_3186193677952171779_o (2).jpg
 

MakeMineVinyl

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Five screen is thee most important if your really into home theater/cinema then five screen is thee most paramount part of the screen channels ain't nothing like. Panned sounds dialog moves smoothly across the screen some fixed dialog sounds will appear in left-centre or right-centre sound effects as well and music sounds far better.


View attachment 117409
In my days of doing music and sound at Sony Pictures, It was striking the difference in solidity of image that 5 speakers behind the screen made verses only 3. A couple of their dubbing stages were equipped for 5 behind the screen speakers, but these were a hangover from the days when the format was current. Its been years since I was there, so who knows how they're set up now.
 

Koeitje

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I think the fronts are more important than the center though the center is important. You can have great clear dialogue on the center and obviously that is important, but if the front pair are substandard everything happens in a smaller, less detailed, less enveloping space. The envelopment is what makes for an immersive experience and the center doesn't do much for that. The surrounds finish the envelopment, but the front pair must be good for it to work well overall I find.
If you are watching alone I agree, but even the center image moves so much if you are watching with a group and only have L+R.
 

Andysu

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This is the region 2 DVD six-track DOLBY STEREO theatrical mix - not that dreadful rubbish bluray where the mix is a mess with fake stereo surrounds. This version has the original Dolby format 42 mono surround.
 
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Andysu

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This I did few years ago with the Lucasfilm Ltd THX Sound System - Alien region 1 best version far better than bluray and 4k, trust me. Note the centre channel now how many can hear that detail on your home theatre I am betting hardly any have noticed all the tiny details when Ripley says "Parker"n you have the air compression system hissing onL R stage channels and engine rumbling noise. Plus got have the playback so it is still good for the dialog pans when the ship is about to land on the planet, it is a complex six-track DOLBY STEREO mix.
 

Kallekeikon

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Hi everybody!
My name is Carl and new to the forum.
I work as a sound designer and mixer for movies and have been an Associate professor at the Norwegian film school for 7 years.

Regarding which speakers that is the most important: If you as a home consumer want to experience the film as close as possible to what we intend with our mixes, it is quite important the speakers of the LCR-configuration are the same. If you experience the film with say much beefier L and R speakers the music might sound grander, but it will not be the balance of the mix that we were hearing on the dubbing stage.

With a traditional film mix, the center channel is by far the most important speaker. 90% of the dialogue, foley and hard-FX are playing there. If you turn off all the other channels, whether it's 5.1, 7.1 or ATMOS, and just experience it with the center, the movie will still be pretty much comprehensible. If you do it the other way around and omit the center nothing is going to make sense.
 

LightninBoy

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Subwoofer for me. I would be happy with $2000 subwoofers and $150 speakers, but not the other way around. There's a minimum cost for ULF subs.

That's literally what I did starting out. Spent my entire speaker budget on the sub and made due with the rest. 15 years later, still have that sub.
 

LightninBoy

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Hi everybody!
My name is Carl and new to the forum.
I work as a sound designer and mixer for movies and have been an Associate professor at the Norwegian film school for 7 years.

Welcome to the forum! Great to have you here!!

Regarding which speakers that is the most important: If you as a home consumer want to experience the film as close as possible to what we intend with our mixes, it is quite important the speakers of the LCR-configuration are the same.

Literally the exact same or "same" as in same capabilities? Because if its the former that's probably about 1% of those who have HT rooms and .001% of the general public who watch movies at home.
 

rccarguy

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That's literally what I did starting out. Spent my entire speaker budget on the sub and made due with the rest. 15 years later, still have that sub.

Subs have come along way that £1500 won't be great by today's standards. Lfe channel is much more demanding.

Sub amplifiers have multiplied in power by several times, my old rel had 150w amp. My new sub is 1000w
 

LightninBoy

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Subs have come along way that £1500 won't be great by today's standards. Lfe channel is much more demanding.

Sub amplifiers have multiplied in power by several times, my old rel had 150w amp. My new sub is 1000w

My 15yr old sub is 1000watts. Subs are just big ass drivers, in big ass boxes, with big ass amps. Not much has changed.
 

rccarguy

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My 15yr old sub is 1000watts. Subs are just big ass drivers, in big ass boxes, with big ass amps. Not much has changed.

Make and model? Also find modern subs are designed to play lower and louder.

My svs sub 500w demolished my 150w rel
 

LightninBoy

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Good sub but may be bit lacking 20-30hz? Depending on room gain

Yes, but that's a function of its design (sealed) vs. when it was made. And this wasn't SOTA at the time either. Rest assured 15 years ago we had big drivers in big boxes with big amps that could plumb those depths. Though we did have to dodge dinosaurs on the way to the store to buy them.
 

Kallekeikon

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Welcome to the forum! Great to have you here!!



Literally the exact same or "same" as in same capabilities? Because if its the former that's probably about 1% of those who have HT rooms and .001% of the general public who watch movies at home.
Thank you for your welcome LightningBoy :)

I have never understood why HT almost always underplay the center channel. From the sound designers point of view it makes little sense, since that channel always will be the busiest. If I were to speculate, I guess manufactures of HT 5.1 systems in its infancy wanted to offer people systems that would also function as well as possible for stereo playback, hence the emphasis on big LR speakers. Placing a big C channel speaker in your living room can also be a bit tricky. Then maybe people just got used to this being the norm.
The 3 speakers behind the screen in a mixing theater, or any 5.1 or 7.1 theater are always the same. I start every mixing day by running pink noise through each speaker or speaker array to check it sounds the same.
The wast majority, the 99.99% general public, will hear a dedicated stereo mixdown and/or compressed version that we do for TV which can be thought of as a representation of the original cinematic experience.
 

rccarguy

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using the same speaker as left right and center would not work it'll block the TV, the mains are big stereo speakers, the center is four driver horizontal center speaker
 
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